Can a Rub be on the meat too long before grilling? My aunt called today and said she was going to drop by all the meat for this weekend’s party, so I can get it ready. I thought I should probably get started rubbing down the Tri-Tips and Chicken tonight… but then I realized that letting the meat sit with the rub for too long, might be bad.

If your rub contains large amounts of salt and sugar, it will start curing the meat after a while. Leaving the salt on too long will also draw a lot of the moisture out of the meat. It all depends on what you use in your rub. If you’re doing Tri-Tips and chicken, I would definitely marinade them for a day, and then apply the dry rub for the second day. That’s how I prep mine.

This is a good question. I have had the same question myself for quite sometime now. Just last night I rubbed down a pork shoulder with a rub that has a 2 to 1 Sugar to salt ratio (not including spices). This sholder will be smoked for 6 + hours in order to make pulled pork sandwiches.

When I peeked at it this morning I noticed a puddle of juices forming in the bottom of my pan--this was only after five hours of sitting in the frig with the rub applied. Typical, I always rub down my meats one day in advance either it be Pork, Beef, Chicken...

Considering that pork shoulder has a high fat content I never really gave it thought not rub down my meat a day in advance.

Have any of folks have any thoughts as to why you should not rub down your pork shoulder, beef brisket, or ribs a day in advance?

I couldn't say the maximum amount of time that it's "safe" to leave a rub on. I can tell you what my experiences are. On larger cut like whole chicken, roasts, brisket & butts I'll rub them down the night before. The chickens lose some juices but since I'm doing them BCC style they've never lacked for moisture. Smaller cuts like ribs, steaks, chicken parts & such, I'll prepare the same day a few hours prior to cooking.

I believe marinades and rubs can be left on too long causing an undesirable effect on the meat. We found in earlier discussion that pineapple marinades can practically digest your chicken for you if left on overnight leaving you with mushy meat. Now we’re seeing that the salt and sugars in rubs can cure and draw the moisture out meat if left on too long.

This is a good question BigDaddy. I’m sure we’ll all learn from the discussion here.

Yeah, right after I read Z's reply, I flinched and decided to hold off until tonight to rub everything down.

Makes a great point about the Salt & Suger wanting to cure the meat. See, that's one thing I really trying to get a hold of.... is how meats react to certian spices and juices. It will all come with due time.

I put a rub on some steaks the night prior once and obviously i wasn't using my head because it had a high sugar content. To say the results were undesireable was an understatement the steaks were dry and despite the rub not much flavor and the texture wasn't right.

Reviving this thread to ask whether the cooking or curing is a function of pH or a chemical reaction? From the threads, it seems that curing is more a function of pH while cooking in acidic juice is chemical. Still, I'm not sure. Can anyone more knowledgable comment?

Actually curing is a function of salt. High content of salt will cause water to move away from tissues and cause it to dehydrate and cure. PH on the other hand is a balance of acid and base. An acidic solution will denature the protein as heat does and cause to become cooked. A brief exposure to an acidic solution will tenderize tough tissues, but a long exposure to delicate tissues as fish or shellfish would do more harm than good.
I hope I answered your question.
Good luck on your feast tonight. I’m sure it’ll turn out just fine.